Gabrielle Marsden releases a zebra swallowtail at Schenley Park, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

6 September 2025

This week I couldn’t help but notice the landscape looks very dry and plants are wilting.

Unwatered grass is brown in the drought, 2 September 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Orange jewelweed at Schenley Park is wilting in the drought, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

It’s official. Pennsylvania is in a moderate drought in Elk, Cameron, northwest Clearfield, western Allegheny, Beaver and Greene counties. Notice the pink arrows I added to this map from U.S. Drought Monitor at UNL.

Northeastern U.S. Drought Monitor map from unl.edu as of 2 Sept 2025

Dry weather hasn’t stopped the insects.

Gabrielle Marsden (@gobbism on Instagram) raises many kinds of butterflies, especially zebra swallowtails. She brought three adults to Schenley Park to release during the Botanical Society walk last Sunday. (See top photo) The butterflies’ host plant, the pawpaw tree, grows in Schenley.

Zebra swallowtails ready for release, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania walks focus on plants but the outings do not ignore the rest of nature. Bugs are often associated with specific plants so when we found cool bugs we took a look … and found a planthopper. He was easy to see because his bright green disguise doesn’t work in a drought.

Planthopper is too gren for the drought.

We also found the remnants of a scissor-grinder cicada who left his exoskeleton behind on a leaf.

Scissor-grinder cicada exoskeleton, Schenley Park, 31 Aug 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Sometimes the bugs found us. Steve Tirone had to stop in his tracks to avoid hurting the katydid on his shoe.

Katydid on Steve’s shoe, Schenley Park, 31 Aug 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

p.s. I forgot to tell you what we saw on the Schenley Park outing last Sunday, 31 August.

Schenley Park outing, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

The birds were quiet and generally hard to find; we saw only 15 species. Best birds were two immature red-tailed hawks that chased each other.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 75 Flagstaff Hill
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 3
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 2 Immatures lazily chasing each other up the creek
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 3
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 6
Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) 1
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 8
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 20
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 25
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 16
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 3
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 4 Not exactly the color we expected, Adult & fledgling both had rumpled appearance as if they got dirty somehow.
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 4

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S270721752